CARLSBAD  While grading continues on the 83-acre La Costa Town Square project, Carlsbad planning commissioners voted 6-1 this month to allow more outdoor dining in the plaza without requiring the developer to add parking spots.

Commissioner Velyn Anderson voted against the change, saying the long-awaited plaza — which will open in fall 2014 — could have problems with parking scarcity similar to The Forum Carlsbad.

But the rest of the commission approved the change Aug. 7, partly because many of the plaza’s shoppers are expected to walk from the surrounding neighborhoods it aims to serve. It’s on the southeast corner of Rancho Santa Fe Road and La Costa Avenue.

The project, which is also slated to include 85 single-family homes and some offices, is expected to attract pedestrians because it includes green belts, ample open space and several large walkways.

A lawsuit filed three years ago by nonprofit North County Advocates forced several changes to the project, including a requirement that Walmart not be one of the retailers for at least the first decade.

The sprawling plaza will be anchored by a Vons, a gym that hasn’t been identified and several restaurants, according to the company building it, Property Development Centers.

Other tenants are expected to include multiple banks, a pharmacy, salons, a dry cleaner, a coffee house and an ice cream shop, said Juan Arriaga, construction manager for the project.

The commissioners said another reason to loosen the parking requirements was that the busy periods for many of the plaza’s stores wouldn’t conflict.

For example, they said the restaurants with outdoor dining would be crowded during the evenings, when banks, salons and dry cleaners would be closed. They also said many customers would visit multiple stores on a trip, making it unfair to require parking spots based on each customer visiting only one business.

Commissioner Anderson said that argument was flawed.

“When people come to a restaurant, they don’t go to a grocery store and a dry cleaner,” she said. “I’d hate to create another parking problem like we have at the other plazas in town.”

The change will allow the plaza to have 1,342 parking spots — 122 less than would be required with the additional 24,000 square feet of outdoor dining.

Van Lynch, a Carlsbad senior planner, said city officials are excited to see the project move forward after the lawsuit and the sluggish economy delayed it. The project is expected to increase the city’s sales tax revenue more than $1 million per year.

Lynch said the project will provide crucial amenities to an area of south Carlsbad that has lacked them.

He said the project was included the 1972 La Costa Master Plan, but that commercial projects typically get built after the housing in such plans because businesses don’t want to open until they have nearby customers.

Residents have generally supported the project, but many joined North County Advocates in opposition to a potential Walmart when the City Council approved the project in 2009.